The Travel Jar

Salutations from Kadoka, South Dakota! Today I entered South Dakota for the first time in my life. My parents (Dad and my stepmom Rachel) left our hometown of Lawrenceville, NJ at 6:30am on Monday, and arrived at my door in Shawnee, KS at 4:30pm on Tuesday. We went out for Peruvian food with my buddies, Mike and his son Dylan, then the 'rents and I drove to Chad's house to drop off... *sniff*... Petri. Chad has two dogs, Buster and Leia, and the three of them form the cutest little pack. The next morning the three of us got on the road at 8:09, and drove until we arrived at our motel in Kadoka at about 4pm. We started  The Golden Compass  on Audible and are already halfway through- this is my fourth read/listen to this particular book, and the 'rents are loving it. Lots of sunflower and corn fields on the drive north. And Sturgis, the big Harley gathering, is happening right now- so there are tons of bikers on the road, and at all the rest stops. When we arrived in Ka...

Yesterday I spent $21 to fuel up the Prius from half a tank, and $70 of groceries at Sprouts- I was mostly buying pantry staples in bulk: quinoa and canned coconut milk, and the like. I also spent $50 on Chewy.com because Petri is almost out of poop bags, treats and dental chews- then I added a few non-essential items like a split antler and some bully stix to get the free shipping. I also had a therapy session, and in the evening I did a Deep Stretch yoga class, because I bought a 20-class package back in May. ALSO (wow I did a lot yesterday) I went to the Shawnee Library and checked out this bad boy, fo' FREE, in prep for January's dive trip: But the big win from yesterday was that I called St. Luke's South and made another payment on my medical bill- $1,000. Paid with my credit card, and will immediately transfer money to the card once it shows on Mint.com. Medical debt is now down to $4,000, total debt is now $7,702.10. WOOHOO! All of these are needs. In fact,...

I'm back on my Spending Freeze as of today. I need to keep this going until the debt's gone. Current stats: $3702.10 left to pay on the car. $5,000.00 left to pay on the medical bill. Total debt: $8,702.10 In July I paid off $1K on my medical bill, $2,016 on my car, and about $2K on my credit card (which is now a balance of $0). August goal: Pay down debt to $6,500 My big obstacle this month is a family trip to Montana, from August 9-19. I have no passive income at the moment, so that's 11 days of no income. Thanks to the generosity of my friends/readers of this blog, I was able to secure the specific packing items that I need for this trip: river sandals (thanks Jen!), croakies and a sun hat (thanks Laurie!). So I won't have to buy anything in preparation for this trip, which is sweet. Even though my overall goal is to be debt-free by September 29th when I leave for my friend's wedding in Jamaica, I don't feel optimistic about paying off $6,5...